Breakaway
by Artsy215
Summary: Hermione's point of view from shortly before recieving her letter to the first ride on the train that changed her life.


"Breakaway"

Summary: The going's-on of Hermione before she enters that train compartment and her life is changed forever. Inspired by the song "Breakaway" by Kelly Clarkson. I didn't intend this to be a song-fic, but it seems to be ending up that way. Lyrics are in italics and marks. It's too short to be broken to chapters, so it's all in a one-shot.

Characters: Hermione, Mrs. Granger, Mr. Granger, Harry, Ron, Draco.

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone or anything except the radio on my office desk which only picks up the easy-listening station and apparently loads of Kelly Clarkson, lol.

**"Breakaway"**

_((Grew up in a small town  
And when the rain would fall down  
I'd just stare out my window  
Dreaming of what could be  
And if I'd end up happy  
I would pray (I would pray)))_

Once upon a time, there was a young girl watching the rain from her bedroom window and she was quite sad. The bedroom was in a large Victorian house in a tiny town just outside of London, England. The single child of a pair of well-educated dentists grew up in the center of her small village. Her bedroom was located in the front corner of the home in what appeared from the outside to be almost a tower. As it was summer, the weather had become quite unpredictable, forcing many of the nearby children to seek entertainment indoors. During one of these sudden storms, the little girl sat cross-legged on a large wooden box gazing out through the glass at the passing storm. The open book on her lap hadn't had a page turned for nearly a half hour while she sat lost in her thoughts.

"_Is it always going to be like this? You're eleven this year and while your years beyond the other kids at lessons_, _you're socially at least a year behind. This year is so much more important than last. The other kids will all have had growth spurts and made new friends, which means new forms of verbal and physical abuse to you if you don't at least try to fit in. How am I supposed to fit in with them when all of their parents are builders, farmers, and shopkeepers? I just want to get out of this awful town and make something of myself. Not end up a dentist just because my parents are, just like they will all be workers, like their parents."_

The small girl turned her head from the window and tilted her head slightly at her own reflection in a large, old-fashioned mirror across the room. The recent rain storms had caused her thick, fluffy, brown hair to become even larger, if that was possible. Upon noticing her large front teeth, she closed her eyes tightly and sent up a silent prayer that things would be different for her this year.

"Hermione Jean, come down here, please?" The gentle voice of a woman echoed through the spiraling staircase up to the top floor where the girl sat. Before heading downstairs, Hermione pulled a brochure for a prestigious American boarding school from her backpack and slid it into her jeans pocket.

_((Trying hard to reach out  
But when I tried to speak out  
Felt like no one could hear me))_

Hermione took a seat at the kitchen island on a wooden stool across from which her mother was preparing dinner. A half glass of milk and a few sugar-free cookies occupied the space in front of her on the table, but remained untouched.

"You look gloomy, sweetheart. I made cookies. Maybe that will perk you up?" Mrs. Granger was a tall, slender woman with hair just as wild as her daughters. She kept it rolled up in a neat bun at the back of her head. As often as she tried, Hermione could not copy her mother's neat, sophisticated appearance. "How is the reading going?"

"Fine, I guess?" Hermione dropped a cookie to the floor for the dog while her mother's back was turned, however the dog avoided the flavorless cookie just the same. "Mum, can I talk to you?" Now seemed a good time. Her father was still at the office and the radio and television were both switched off for the time being. "It's about school."

"School? Something wrong? You're top in your class as always, Hermione. Dad and I are very proud of you." She smiled brightly over the ham she was currently glazing.

"That's the thing, Mum. I don't like it there, at all. I'm eleven this year, is there anyway I could do something different? I've been in the same classes with the other kids since kindergarten. I just need…a change." She picked her fingernail at one of the yellow cookies hoping in the back of her mind that her mum would understand.

After a few minutes her mother spoke. "You have been with the same crowd for a while now. You must be getting bored. When your father comes home, I will talk to him about it."

A moment of relief washed over Hermione. "You will?"

"Of course, honey. I don't know why I never suggested it before. Skipping a grade would be ideal for you! You're so far ahead already. I'm sure your dad will approve."

The moment had faded. Being yet another grade ahead, but the same physical size and carrying the same socially inept personality caused Hermione to become nauseous. "No, that's not what I meant, Mum. I-"

"I can't home-school you, Hermione. I have to work. That's just not possible."

"Please, just listen? I just can't be here anym-"

"And don't' think that just because you seem to have trouble making friends here that your dad and I are willing to pick up and just move everything so you can go to another school in another town and still have trouble making friends. You're going to be a teenager soon, and that will make your current troubles seem like they never existed." Mrs. Granger shoved the ham into the oven with a heavy bang, causing Hermione to jump with fright. She considered just leaving the school brochure out for her parents to find on accident, but she figured they would take it for junk mail and just toss it into the bin with the other school recruitment flyers she often received.

_((Wanted to belong here  
But something felt so wrong here  
So I prayed I could break away))_

A defeated Hermione slid off the stool without another word and found herself back in her window watching the rain come down over the town she felt she would never be able to escape.

* * *

_((I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly  
I'll do what it takes til' I touch the sky  
And I'll make a wish  
Take a chance  
Make a change  
And breakaway))_

A few days later, Hermione sat once again in her window.

"_I will find a way out of this place. I'm not going to be another one of these hopeless girls getting married at eighteen to an illiterate builder before punching out a half-dozen babies in a shack the size of a shoebox. I will find someway. It's not going to happen to me. I'm meant for more than this." _

She sobbed softly to herself with her arms wrapped tightly around her legs. Her silent pep-talk was cut-off suddenly by the sound of shrieking from the front yard. Hermione peered down toward the sidewalk to see what the commotion was about. The postman and her mother were racing around in circles while a rather out of place bird flapped and squawked wildly over their heads. "HERMIONE! HELP! AHHH! DUCK SIR! DUCK!"

"IT'S NOT A DUCK! IT'S A RUDDY BARN OWL! GET-IT-ORFF ME!"

"NOT A DUCK! DUCK! GET ON THE GROUND!"

Mrs. Granger swung at the offended animal with a sweeping broom as if it were a piñata at a birthday party while the postman held a box over his head and cowered in terror.

Doing as she was told, Hermione rushed out the front door toward her mother and the terrified postman, grabbing the garden hose along her way. "Why's there an owl out here? It's broad daylight!" she yelled watching the unusual scene unfold before her. She was about to turn the hose on the owl and the postman when the bird dropped a letter at Hermione's feet and disappeared into the sky.

"I'm so sorry, sir! I've no idea where that owl came from. It's been on the porch all morning, but I thought it would simply fly away out of fear when you brought up the day's mail." Mrs. Granger's apologies did little to calm the irritated post man. The poor worker had been attacked by large dogs, even a few angry housecats, but never an owl! The only way she could see to really calm the man was to offer his family a free check-up on his next visit to the Granger Dental Offices. With this he walked down the lane to continue his deliveries in a slightly less audible huff.

"Mum?"

"Look at this mess! Feathers everywhere and my broom is wrecked! Thank heavens that hose was unnecessary! " Mrs. Granger shrieked.

"Mum, I got a letter."

"If your father was home, he would have captured that awful creature and sent it back to the forest straight away. A letter? The postman must have dropped it. What is it? Another flyer from that German Girls school about their excellent ski team? Or the Italian school with the fantastico dormatorios?" She began trying to sweep up the mess on her lawn with what was left of her broom. "Toss it in the bin with the others."

"No, Mum, listen!" Hermione stood so her mother had no choice but to stop sweeping and actually pay attention to her daughter for a moment. "It's from a different kind of school. Hogwarts? A school for young witches and wizards! I think that owl brought it, not the postman. Can we please go inside and talk about this? Please, Mum?"

Mrs. Granger stared at her daughter for a moment with a blank expression. "What kind of- That owl couldn't have- Hermione?" She was absolutely speechless for the first time in her entire life. Her mind flashed back to several peculiar occasions when her only daughter's behavior could not be logically explained. "Yes. Let's go inside."

* * *

Mrs. Granger and Hermione sat together at the island in the large kitchen in a state of deep silence both staring tight-lipped at the mysterious letter beside the fancy envelope. 

"_Richard! How did she get into the kitchen? She's just learned to sit-up, surely she didn't climb over the baby gate! Richard, I gave her one cookie, how did she get three if you didn't give them to her? She broke that vase, I heard it fall and break when I was out on the porch. How is it still in one piece if it fell off the mantle?"_

The strange memories she kept between herself and Mr. Granger replayed one after the other in her mind. Mrs. Granger picked up the letter slowly, as if it were going to jump from her grasp suddenly and read it very slowly several times. "Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry? Hermione. if this is a legitimate school and they have hand-picked you to attend- it is in England, of course? It's not just an advert like the others- ?" Mrs. Granger stammered.

Hermione looked at her mother closely trying to read her expression. She tried to push aside the hope that was bubbling under the surface that she might actually receive her wish to leave home. "It's in some secret part of England. I have to take a train there. They picked _me_, Mum. It's not just an advert for some club or special program the school _might_ offer me. It's an actual invitation to be a student."

"Witches and Wizards? Hermione? I just don't-"

"Yes you do. You've always known. Maybe not that exactly, but you've known something about me that wasn't quite…normal. This is it, Mum. This is the answer." Hermione's eyes began to tear up as she waved the envelope around at her mother.

"Well, your Dad is going to be awfully disappointed, sweetheart." Mrs. Granger sighed.

"Disappointed? Why?" Hermione's greatest fear was letting her parent's expectations of her fall for any reason. This was the last thing she wanted to hear.

"He's going to be very sad when we have to put you on that train and not see you for several months at a time." Mrs. Granger smiled softly. "You can go. You work so hard, Hermione. You deserve it."

The small girl leapt into her mother's arms and jumped up and down for sheer joy. This was the greatest news she had ever been given. She wasn't supposed to be like the other kids at all. She was meant to be different! She was a witch.

* * *

_((I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly  
I'll do what it takes til' I touch the sky))_

Over the remainder of the summer, Hermione had received several more letters from Hogwart's school about gathering her start of school materials from Diagon Alley such as books, robes, and other magical items and directions on how to get to the train. Her parents watched her rushing about the house in a fury throughout the final week before the train was to depart. She carried gigantic books back and forth from her room to the kitchen, began using odd words like 'obliviate,' and had found a visible confidence she had lacked before that letter landed on the front step.

Mrs. Granger seemed to be struggling with her daughter's impending departure, while her Father tried to be as casual about it as possible. "Hermione, be sure to pack all of your spare paper, so you can write to us. Maybe you should take a laptop? That's what the college kids are starting to use these days, right?"

"Dear, take a deep breath? She's going to learn magic, not secretarial skills. I doubt _those people_ know what a laptop even is." Her father whispered over his newspaper.

"Don't say that, dad!" Hermione grumbled as she passed through the kitchen.

"What, dear?"

"Don't say 'those people' like that, like we're aliens or second-class citizens. I find it offensive."

"I- well how should I say it, Hermione? What would my little girl prefer?"

She thought about that for a moment, but wasn't entirely sure. She hadn't ever thought of an answer. "_My_ people. My friends. I don't know, something besides 'those people.' I read in one of my school books that they call non-magical people 'Muggles.' Wouldn't you rather have a title like that instead of having everyone at my school calling _you _'_those_ people?'"

Her parents looked to each other with a shrug and let her go about her business. They had adopted the motto "a happy daughter makes happy parents" and simply tried to convince themselves that Hermione knew what was best for Hermione and could make adequate decisions on her own. On the day of departure, they drove her in the family car to the train station to say their final goodbyes.

"Mum, where are you going with my trolley?" Hermione asked looking around at the other travelers of the King's Cross station.

"Dad and I are going to see you off at the platform, naturally. A proper send-off, which I'm sure the other children will all have as well." Mrs. Granger answered with a proud smile.

"No." Hermione stood squarely in front of her luggage trolley and looked up at her parent's faces with a stern expression. "You're not magic. I have to go through a wall like the paper says. You can't go with me." She was, in truth, unsure if they could pass through the barrier with her or not. In the event that her parents might make a scene or be drastically different from the parents of the other children, she thought it best that they say goodbye here, at the entrance to the station, rather than on the platform. "You can wait here if you like, and watch me go through the wall. It's just over there." Mr. and Mrs. Granger nodded reluctantly at her request.

After a quick hug and a sniffle from her mother, Hermione wheeled her heavy trolley on her own toward the platforms eight and ten.

* * *

_((I'll spread my wings  
And I'll learn how to fly  
Though it's not easy to tell you goodbye))_

"_Now how on earth does this wall work? The one in Diagon Alley has a magic brick. What's this boy doing? He looks a bit bookish and he's wearing a school uniform. Let's see him do it-"_

Hermione stood back in the crowd and watched as the boy stared at the wall. The woman with him, who looked something like an old vulture, urged him on with a bit of impatience. The boy ran at the wall and vanished into thin air.

_((And I'll make a wish  
Take a chance  
Make a change  
And breakaway))_

Hermione watched closely as a few other students and their families passed through the wall. A brief, chaotic line of trolleys seemed to be forming nearby, so she joined the que and tried to look confident in her abilities.

"_She was the last one. Now it's me. Deep breath, head up, eyes on the wall and right through it-"_

Just as she took off at a good speed and thought for sure she would make it clear through as the other children had, she lost her concentration and smashed right into the brick wall.

"HERMIONE! HERMIONE, you forgot your umbrella!" Came a woman's voice over the crowd. "Oh dear! Are you alright? Did you break anything? That wall looks- sturdy."

With a face as red as an apple, Hermione turned to see her mother tucking the umbrella roughly into the side of her trolley. The other children in line sniggered and cleared their throats at the scene. "Mum, go? I'm fine. Just- go with dad. Please?" She whispered in an obviously shaken tone.

Mrs. Granger nodded and rushed back off away from the barrier to be with her husband. "Sorry. Sorry. Study hard, dear. Write us everyday."

"Do you need a hand, sweety? Just try again. Don't let your nerves stop you or break your focus. You'll go right through." One of the random mothers nearby offered a few words of advice, as if she had done this several times before. The words were quite comforting to Hermione who indeed tried once more and went right through the wall as the other children had.

* * *

_((Out of the darkness and into the sun  
But I won't forget all the ones that I love  
I'll take a risk  
Take a chance  
Make a change  
And breakaway))_

The sight of the large, steaming train beside the platform caught Hermione completely off guard. She new it was a train, but not one so large and extravagant looking. She watched the other families up and down the platform hugging goodbyes and looking as if they would genuinely miss each other. She would miss her parents just the same, but this was something she knew had to be done on her own. No more hand-holding or prodding or protection from the only two people in her life she had ever been close with.

Suddenly, she felt something she hadn't felt in a rather long time. She looked up at the steam billowing from the engine and felt quite nervous. Here was the key to her future staring her in the face, waiting to take off with her aboard, but for some reason, she was unable to move her feet toward the train. Several older boys pushed past her in a hurry, nearly knocking her to the ground. A few of the girls who seemed her age already knew each other and were giggling together as if they had been best friends for ages.

"Better get a move on, girly. Their about to go without you!" A much older student shouted to her and began taking her things toward the doorway to the first-year's carriage. Hermione was about to object to his help, however she could not find the words. She followed him closely aboard the train and looked up and down the narrow hallways feeling quite uncertain. Older, taller students pushed past her, stepping on her new shoes and knocking her sideways into the walls. It was cramped and noisy and not at all what she had hoped or expected. She honestly half wanted to run off the train and back to her room at home where it was quiet and comfortable.

A glance to her left revealed a girl's bathroom tucked into the corner of the train car. She ducked inside it before anyone else had the chance and looked at herself in the mirror.

_((Wanna feel the warm breeze?  
Sleep under a palm tree?  
Feel the rush of the ocean?  
Get onboard a fast train  
Travel on a jet plane, far away))_

"_This is what you wanted. Your new life. Get hold of yourself and go out there and take this on as if it were made for you and you only. You've read every first-year text book cover to cover in less than two months. They probably haven't seen the first pages. Do what you do best. Be smart and proud of it. Hold your head high and if that means adopting a few of the high-tone, snooty attitudes of those kids back home who made you feel nervous and uncertain everyday, then that's what you have to do. Be smart. Be tough. Own your brain."_

_((Buildings with a hundred floors  
Swinging around revolving doors  
Maybe I don't know where they'll take me))_

The train jerked to a start, rocking gently from side to side. Hermione could see the station disappearing through the tiny bathroom window to her right. She poked her head from the bathroom door and slung her bag over her shoulder. It contained nearly every text book she had brought with her and weighed a ton. As she moved down the corridor, many of the compartments were already full or half-full of surly looking students she'd rather not sit with anyway. Ahead of her, she could see a candy trolley being moved along by an older woman. A pair of hands stuck out from a compartment two-thirds of the way down the corridor, greedily snatching random items and pulling them into the room. When the trolley had moved further along, Hermione straightened herself up and stood silently outside the compartment listening.

"…blimey, I can't believe it's really you! No, mate. I haven't got any pocket change to repay you for it."

"Go on, my treat. Look how much I have? I can't possibly keep it all to myself and be a right pig. Tho you come frrrm a bick famwy den? Loths of brovers and shisters?" The second voice mumbled. " Oi! This carmel made my mouth go numb for a second! Wow."

"Huh? Yeah, Smarmy-carmels. They do that. I have a bunch of older brothers and one sister. I'm the last boy to go. My sister will be along next year." The first voice answered him.

_((Gotta keep moving on, moving on  
Fly away, breakaway))_

"_Sounds like only two people in there. You might not find another seat. Just go on and take a chance. You can't ride in the hall the rest of the trip-"_

She swung the door open dramatically and stared down the pair of boys inside the compartment. "May I sit here? Or are these seats taken?" she snapped. Before they could answer, she had already sat down and made herself comfortable.

"I'm-"

"I know who you are. You're that boy everyone talks about. I saw your picture in the Daily Prophet news paper. And you're Ronald Weasley, right?"

"How do you know that? I mean, I could be anyone, right? Him, obviously he's him, but you don't know for sure who I am." Ron answered. He was a bit annoyed at the girl's presumption, but also intrigued. He had never met a girl quite like her.

"When I was in the station, I saw your family pass through the barrier. A teacher who knew your parents said your name."

"Well- who are _you_, then? You know so much about me and him, right?" Ron had the sudden urge to just reach out and pull her hair, but he knew better. He felt like the boy on the playground who didn't know what else to do to a girl but give her an attitude and push her into a mud puddle. He'd never actually done those things to anyone, but he did have a handful of older brothers to observe.

"I'm Hermione Granger. I'm from outside Lon-"

"What kind of bloody name is Hermione Granger? It sounds like some kind of skin disease." A cold, hollow voice came from the compartment door as it slid open suddenly.

"_MY_ name is Hermione Granger, and I'm quite fond of it, thank you."

"I was wrong. It's not a skin disease. It's a tooth ailment!" He laughed callously. His dopey, over-sized friends behind him laughed along, however Hermione was certain they had no idea what they were laughing about. They were just following their pale, blonde leader. "I'm Draco Malfoy. Perhaps you know of my father? Lucius Malfoy? I come from a very prominent Pure-blood line." The trio shrugged at him and looked at each other in confusion. "You don't know of him? What are you? Are you all Muggles or something?"

"I am. I'm the first witch in the family." Hermione answered proudly.

"I was raised by muggles, but my parents were wizards," Harry said. "Ron's from a wizard family."

"I've heard about _your_ family from my father." He spat to the redhead in the far corner. "You may be from a wizard family, but nothing close to the lineage the Malfoy's have. If you keep hanging around this mud-blood trash-"

"OI! I think you need to get out and mind your own business, Malfoy! Nobody asked you to come in here, anyway! We were getting along fine until _you_ turned up!" Ron stood up and glared right into his face. Harry sat forward on his seat and appeared ready for a fight, as well. Hermione sat quietly and watched the boys interaction.

"Fine, I don't want to be associated with _your_ kind, anyway." With that, the pale boy turned and left with his followers, slamming the door closed behind them.

Hermione watched as Ron's red face slowly faded back to its natural color. His ears, however, stayed bright pink. It was clear that Malfoy had said something to set him off. "Sorry. He's a right git. Calling people names like they can help who their parents are."

"Just forget him," Harry added. "There's plenty of nice people around to be mates with. We don't need him or his goony pals."

Hermione hugged her bag to her chest on her lap and looked between the boys. She nodded and smiled softly. "Right. We've got what, seven years of school with him? We're bound to make at least a few good friends in that time."

"_Ron stood up for you and Harry, but mostly you. Harry looked as if he were going to get involved, as well. And he said 'we.' 'We don't need him.' You've got some people on your side, Hermione! Things are working out, see. Just stick by these two, even if you get in an argument. You might become good friends. Keep your guard up for that prat, Malfoy, but these two seem okay."_

Harry had shared his candy with her, as well, and the group sat up chatting with each other for the rest of the ride to school. Hermione had never talked so much to people her own age in her entire life. She felt quite fortunate to have met such a nice pair of friends so early on.

She opened a notebook on her lap while the boys chatted and began scribbling something down.

"_Once upon a time, there was a young girl in a tiny train compartment watching the sunlit fields pass by, and she was quite happy…"_

_((Out of the darkness and into the sun  
But I won't forget the place I come from  
I gotta take a risk  
Take a chance  
Make a change _

_The end!_

* * *

_Hope you liked it! I don't often share what I write with other people. Mostly just my cat, lol. Lemme know what you think._


End file.
